Today

Oregon at UCLA

7:30 p.m., Prime Ticket

LOS ANGELES - The plan was to be patient, to wait, to kill more time off the game clock. But Oregon's Aaron Brooks had bolted past UCLA's Darren Collison and found himself wide open on the right baseline - 16 seconds to play ... 15 ... 14 ... 13 ...

So right then he pulled up and shot.

He nailed the jumper - andthe Bruins, who were ranked No.1 at the time.

There was not a Bruins defender anywhere near Brooks when he let the shot go, which had been the case much of the afternoon. When Oregon took down UCLA at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore., last month, the 6-foot guard scored 25 points including that game-winner, a floater from the right baseline. He hit 9 of 13 shots, including his only three-point attempt. He got to the free-throw line six times, knocking down every one, and also had three assists.

The Bruins opened the game guarding Brooks with Arron Afflalo, their best on-ball defender. They later tried Collison, their quickest guard.

It will be the same tonight when the Bruins and Ducks play at Pauley Pavilion for first place in the Pac-10 - and it will have to be much different if UCLA emerges atop the conference race.

But if there was a positive coming out of that loss, the Bruins' first this season, it was that lessons were learned, Afflalo said.

"I hate learning through losses, but you do," he said. "I think I have a better feel of who he is as a player. It only takes once, so That's not to say that he won't have another big game, you just don't know. Some guys, there are a tough guard, to be that quick with that type of range. It always puts the defensive man at a disadvantage.

"There's so much space and they're so spread out, they set so many ball screens for him, he's a tough guard. But we're going to do some different things."

That could help the Bruins, trying to slow Brooks and take him out of an ever-expanding comfort zone. Coach Ben Howland said his team again will switch Afflalo and Collison against the speedy guard, depending on who also is in the Ducks backcourt. The 5-foot-6 freshman Tajuan Porter will start, but if Oregon subs in the taller Chamberlain Oguchi (6-5), Afflalo might have to switch to the bigger guard. Complicating matters for the Bruins is the return of Malik Hairston, who did not play for Oregon in the first meeting because of a right heel injury.

Afflalo, who held Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka scoreless last week, said that he hopes to stay on Brooks from the start.

"I'm going to make that priority No.1 from the get-go," he said.

He relishes the challenge, drawing the assignment on an opponent's best guard.

"He's very competitive. He's feisty and he's got that killer instinct," Afflalo said. "He's going to keep going at you all game. There's no relaxation in his game right now at this point in his life and at this point in his career. "

Brooks is leading the Pac-10 at 19.1 points per game and in conference games he has averaged 22.3. He is first in three-point field goal percentage (55.6), three-point field goals (3.13 per game), minutes (39 per game) and is fifth in assists (4.25 per game).

He has been to the free-throw line 44 times in Pac-10 games, tied for the second-highest total in the conference.

"He can hurt you in a lot of ways," Howland said.

The Oregon senior has beaten UCLA with 13 seconds remaining and took down Arizona with a basket with two seconds to play.

"What he's meant to us has been everything," Ducks coach Ernie Kent said. "He's won a lot of games for us. He's handled himself extremely well on the floor. He's another tireless player who plays major minutes every game."

The matchup, Afflalo said, will be fun.

"That's what I enjoy the most, competing to win. That's what you play for," he said. "He (Brooks) already has gotten off to a hot start. So there's a level of comfort now. Whenever you're having great success you're not so much worried about having that success any more, you just feel it's a part of you. And I think that's become a part of him now."

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